DUCK DOLLARS 35 
ground in preference to the snow, and you do not spend any time driving 
them from the snow to the dirt. 
We believe in keeping the old birds breeding and laying for two 
full years, or until they are twenty-eight to thirty months old. Then 
they can be sold off for market. If sold alive, they will 
bring from eight to nine cents a pound—if dressed, from Keep Two 
eleven to twelve cents a pound. They are not, worth’ so Pull Years 
much as a.duckling because they are old and tough. They can be told 
by their extra large size, the darker color of the bill, and the hard- 
ness of the breast-bone. The breast-bone of a duckling at killing age is 
not hard, but soft—it.is only gristle. We do not keep breeding ducks 
at work longer than two years, because they have done a lot of work by 
the end of that period, and are not equal to any more. At any rate, with 
plenty of young stock coming along all the time, there is no need of 
taking the risk of infertile eggs. You can atways find live ducks of breed- 
ing age advertised for sale, but the price tells whether they are young 
stock suitable for breeding, or the old, worn-out birds,- : 
good only for the pot. If the price is from $1 to $2 Price oe 
each, you can be sure that the birds are not good for Breeding 
breeding, but are castaways, no longer wanted by their Ducks 
owner, who is trying to get rid of them alive for something above the 
market price for killed old birds. Remember, a bird of breeding age is 
two or three months older than a duckling of the killing age. No 
breeder can afford to feed and keep his choice birds that length of time, 
culling out unfavorable specimens meantime, and sell them at low prices, 
if he has any reputation for breeding, and pays his bills. If he wanted 
the $1 selling price with the least cost price to himself, he would 
have sold the duckling to market at killing age. The fact that he has 
kept the bird for months beyond the killing age and A Good 
then offers it for $1, or even $2, shows that he is letting Market 
it go at less than cost, and therefore he is getting rid of Always 
it because he has no further use for it. It is not right for anybody to sell 
such stock alive, representing that it is good for breeding. The market 
for prime young breeding stock always is steady at good prices. 
Sex, Pairing, Breeding 
The duck is distinguished from the drake both by sight and by 
hearing. 
The drake, when full-feathered perfectly, has in his tail-feathers one 
feather which curls up, as shown in the picture. This is not an invariable 
test, because sometimes the curl feather may have been 
pulled out, or lost out from molting or other cause. 
The curl feather shows on the drake when he is four 
months old, and it is sign of puberty; in other words, that he is ready for 
breeding. 
A duck quacks, but a drake does not. The drake makes a noise— 
it is a sort of low, rasping, hissing-like noise hard to describe, but much 
different from the quack which the duck makes, and which you can 
instantly distinguish. 
Ducks and 
Drakes 
